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Australian Elected Representatives – Emails and phones

Please be polite. Let them know how you feel in no uncertain terms, but it serves no purpose to spam or be ill-mannered. All these people have staff who will read your email. Respect their time, be brief and to the point and your message is more likely to make an impact.

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Jim, it’s a good idea, though there was no up to date list floating around. A volunteer helped put it together. In a way it is surprising no one else does it. Perhaps they do and they keep it internal. I was afraid the list would be misused and parliament would change it’s email system.

Tips for Sending Emails
Email is by far the least effective way of communicating your views to your representative/s. For reasons why, and comments by various politicians, see information above.
However, when you are unable to find time to mail a letter or make a phone call, it is better to send an email than do nothing. The following tips will help maximise the probability of your email being read and considered:
• Most of the tips above for writing letters also apply to writing email.
• Write to appropriate politicians, not everyone: Send your email to your local representative/s and/or the Minister/Shadow Minister responsible for the matter you are writing about, not to everyone. Mass emailing politicians can overload mail servers and be blocked like spam or make it difficult for politicians and their staff to cope. Thoughtfully and appropriately directed email is less likely to irritate and more likely to be read and considered.
• Include your name and address: Email can come from anywhere in the world so be sure to identify yourself as a constituent by including your address (preferably at the top of your email). Politicians are most likely to pay attention to people who live in their electoral district or at least in Australia. Also, many politicians reply to email only by postal mail.
• Use the formality of a letter, not the informality of typical emails: The formality of a letter makes a better impression on most politicians than the informal style often used in email messages. Pay attention to spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, etc.
• Use the “To” field (not the “copy” or “blind copy” fields): Place the politician’s email address in the “To” field of your email, not in the “copy” (c.c.) or “blind copy” (b.c.c.) fields, to minimise the risk of your email being treated like spam and automatically deleted or sent to a junk mail folder.
• Address a person: Commence with “Dear …”, so your email doesn’t look like impersonal/junk mail.
• State the topic in the subject line of your email.
• Be polite: Be courteous, but don’t be afraid to take a firm position. While your representative’s job is to represent you, remember that politicians and their staff are people too. Threats, hostile remarks and rude/offensive language are among the fastest ways to alienate people who could otherwise decide to support your position in light of rational and reasoned argument. Your representative could be in elected office for decades, and could be promoted to higher, more influential, office within their party. Avoid creating enemies.
• Thanks is as important as criticism: Politicians/political parties need to be able to tell the ‘other side’ that they have been inundated with calls and letters supporting their position. Write thank you letters to politicians/parties that you know support your position. This will encourage them to stand firm on their position rather than backing down, which has often happened during the passage of proposed laws through Australian parliaments.
• Keep the irritation factor low: Avoid accusing/criticising the wrong politicians/party. Politicians, like anyone else, may become irritated when accused of holding views they do not. If you are not sure of the views of the person or political party you are contacting, either research the matter, ask them, or just inform them of your views and why they should support same.
• See also: tips for writing letters, most of which also apply to writing email.

It’ll be in an envelope with a real postage stamp on it. It will go to all Liberal Senators and Members in WA via snail mail.

“Senator NAME
POSTAL ADDRESS

Dear Senator NAME,

Please Stop the Nonsense (in bold)

I am writing to encourage you to reject any change in the leadership of the Parliamentary Liberal Party. Indeed, I am asking you to do whatever you can to re-establish some discipline and common-sense within the ranks of the Parliamentary Liberal Party.

I am one of the many Liberal voters who will not vote for a party led by Malcolm Turnbull.

Malcolm Turnbull has demonstrated his poor judgement sufficiently through his Godwin Grech debacle and his support of a Carbon (Dioxide) trading scheme before he was replaced by Tony Abbott. In his current portfolio he has been ineffective in bringing the ABC to understand that it has a national obligation to act in an unbiased way and in the national interest.

The very fact that both the ABC and the Fairfax press (and the “Guardian”) are promoting the disunity within the Liberal Party should tell you where Malcolm Turnbull’s loyalties lie.

Please focus your attention on getting the deficit and debt under control. That’s the priority now that the boats have been stopped, the Carbon (Dioxide) tax has been removed along with the industry destroying mining tax. The recent statements made by the new Secretary to the Treasury, John Fraser, need to be acted upon with urgency. That is unlikely to happen while-ever the Party is arguing amongst itself; or, if Malcolm Turnbull were to succeed in his deceitful behaviour and his undermining of Tony Abbott.

Malcolm Turnbull would be a “do-nothing”, left-leaning, pro-greenie disaster. I cannot in conscience vote for such an outcome. If Malcolm Turnbull becomes Prime Minister during this term of government I’ll be voting for an Independent in the Reps and for the National Party in the Senate at the next Federal election. And, I’ll be encouraging as many others as I possibly can to follow my lead.

what a week leader this turnbull – he should have sticked to finance not politics – hes too week and too greenie for my liking – no wonder the abc and the sydney morning herald are leaving him alone – pitty he didnt do somwthing with this left wing group in the abc while he was minister for communications
i would vote for a party that is as far left as he is – no wonder shorten is not getting ahead in the polls – malcolm is more labour or should i say green than he is liberal national – and what is barnaby doing about letting china having a field day in obtaining a lot of our country – not much
why sell our country off to foreigners when our brave soldiers died for us to be free

A complete list of 2016 post election MPs and Senators/shadow etc. would be helpful, to campaign against the US allied war on Syria and Australias participation in it, the support of US and Saudi allied training, arming and backing of terrorists from 70 different countries into Syria for a non existant syrian revolution to overthrow the Syrian government (with 80% of the Syrian vote)
a, the US-Saudi coalition is not fighting ISIS or there to “save the kurds” they are bombing civillians and destroying Syrian infrastructure and Australia also has CRUEL sanctions preventing any aid going in where it is needed, impacting on millions, 70% of syrias refugees that have fled within Syria, another reason people leave as refugees. Billions in aid never reaches syria it ends up with the Syrian opposition: terrorist groups and the neighbouring countries, facilitating their passage in.
Similar Sanctions killed half a million children in iraq the first time around. The US war has been supported over successive Australian Liberal/Labor governments and the Australian greens having pushed through sanctions during Labors term. Contacting my MP doesnt cut it Im afraid when seems most are busy cowering and covering up for each other in the same way they did the torture of children in the NT. We must collectively help defend those suffering because of our governments input, and write to help. Contact Hands off Syria Sydney for further info or google End the Sanctions on Syria for further information. We need the facts and evidence on hand to be addressed by all our representatives in hope there is an MP out there with some moral backbone, a full list of current email addresses would be really helpful to so many! Australias habit of entering into US agression just about everywhere in the world must end, Syria needs our immediate attention but this problem also extends into our neighbourhood now and with their Asia Pivot, support of mercenaries/terrorists, and their war on China: impacts on us directly. Understand environment and climate change is the main concern here but of course the two are interconnected.. Please help if you can!

Hi, Is it possible to get the Australian Government email list updated to 2017? I go on the Parliament site and they say they are no longer providing email lists due to Spam.

Thanks,

Andrew Whitney.

Good Question. It would be good if someone could update it, but presumably Parliamentarians have to move “faster than spam” and I can understand that. Have they shifted to comment forms only? Can email addresses be guessed? – Jo

Although I am skeptical and quite acerbic regarding ‘most’ opinions from ‘inside the forest-can’t-see-the-wood-for-the- trees’ Australians (especially most politicians), I have long been impressed by your work.
I have long warned that we are losing all that was good about Australia.
Reviewing the comments – some very intelligent – on this page provides even more evidence of that fact that, as I noted ten years ago, all ‘we’ do is endlessly ‘blah, blah, blah’ while the forces of this nation’s destruction steadily, relentlessly progress.
I even created a video that hoped to ‘awaken’ people to this fact. If you have a moment, watching it will likely bring the reality home of the total waste of time of vast numbers of intelligent, good Australians who thought they might make a difference.
It’s at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRmLYz5OaYI&feature=youtu.be
Note that the video is a bit outdated. My primary support now is for Cory Bernardi. Where his party is not represented and Pauline’s is, then there I support her.
Jo, if you are in or near Brisbane and the video causes you to see things a little differently, would you care to meet with me to discuss?
If you are not in Brisbane, then do you visit here?
If not, are you will to examine how we can more directly connect? Emailing won;t be good enough. Too much to discuss.
Kind regards,
Peter Forde

Good on you for “getting in there”. Please take this the right way — trying to be helpful. You’ll get more traction if you keep the message positive — talk about the advantages of working together, rather than telling people off. Those of us who are on the front lines have given up a lot, and we are achieving things. We deal with hostility, a stacked deck, little funding, and sometimes have lost friends and family to the ideology wars as well. Having one more person tell us what we’re doing wrong is a message that will bounce. Only positive, inspiring messages, or funny ones, or ones attacking the enemy, go viral. Yes, we can be so much stronger if we work together — it is frustrating, but it is also the central paradigm of libertarians. Independent thinking is our greatest strength and independent action our biggest weakness. We are not sheep. (The GetUp crowd BTW count every email as a member, I am sure I’m counted as “a member” because I voted or commented on something once, “a million members “is marketing spin.) Herding cats has always been the most difficult challenge on the conservative and libertarian axes (and they are two different groups as well). I’m not near Brisbane, so sorry catching up is not easy. Hope this helps. Being positive or funny in videos is a Golden Marketing Rule, unless you are mocking the enemy. Jo